General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-22
The Northern Goshawk in Utah: Habitat Assessment and Management Recommendations

Introduction

This habitat assessment and the management recommendations for the northern goshawk (Accipter gentilis) are an interagency effort applicable for the State of Utah. This document is a cooperative effort by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, USDA Forest Service, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, USDI Bureau of Land Management, and USDI National Park Service (appendix A). It will describe habitat and develop recommendations to provide for long-term sustainable goshawk habitat throughout Utah. In addition, this effort will provide consistency in management of goshawk habitat. This should reduce threats to the species or its habitat and lower the priority for its listing as a threatened or endangered species by the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service in the future.

Changes in forest structure, especially large tree removal, and other forest management activities singly or in combination may negatively affect goshawk populations (Crocker-Bedford 1990). These changes in habitat are associated with some or all of the following: timber harvest, fire (wild or prescribed), insect and disease epidemics, and livestock grazing. Perhaps one of the greatest influences on habitat is fire exclusion from forest and woodland ecosystems. Successful fire exclusion has altered native successional pathways, resulting in ingrowth of shade-tolerant tree species throughout Utah. With these changes in habitat came suspected declines in goshawk populations in much of the Western United States (Bloom and others 1986; Herron and others 1985; Kennedy 1989).

In July 1991, the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service announced a 90 day finding for a petition to list the northern goshawk in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona as endangered and to include critical habitat (USDI Fish and Wildlife Service 1997). In September 1991, a coalition of conservation organizations requested to amend the petition already under consideration by the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service. This revised petition requested expansion of the geographic region to include the contiguous United States west of the 100th meridian and was accepted by the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service (1997). Since this petition's acceptance, the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service determined that listing as endangered was not warranted. Through court action in 1992 and 1997, the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service was ordered to revisit their decision and emphasized the need to address goshawk habitat in the Western United States. The status of the goshawk and its population size within Utah was unknown except for a few locations on USDA Forest Service System administrated lands. Intensive surveys in southern Utah on the Dixie National Forest and in northern Utah on the Ashley National Forest identified nesting locations in a wide range of forest cover types. However, information was limited because survey efforts were targeted at proposed project areas.

In 1991, the goshawk was also designated as a sensitive species in the USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region. As a result of this designation, special management was emphasized to ensure the goshawk's viability (USDA Forest Service 1988a). The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources classified the goshawk as a sensitive species in March 1997. The purpose of this designation was to identify species in the State that are most vulnerable to population declines or habitat loss and to stimulate management actions for the conservation of this species.

To address the issue of declining goshawk habitat in Utah, the technical team (appendix A) developed the following questions:

1. Is there adequate nesting habitat available?
2. Is there adequate foraging habitat available?
3. Are northern goshawks able to move freely between habitat patches?
4. Is the population viable at the State level?
5. Where is the high value habitat?
6. How are current management policies affecting goshawks?
7. What are the important habitat trends and their implications for goshawks?

This assessment will attempt to address these questions.

Title: Introduction: RMRS-GTR-22 - The Northern Goshawk in Utah: Habitat Assessment and Management Recommendations
Electronic Publish Date: May 26, 1999
Expires: Indefinite
Last Update: January 15, 2002

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